Lola Nolan is a budding costume designer, and for her, the more outrageous, sparkly, and fun the outfit, the better. And everything is pretty perfect in her life (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood. When Cricket, a gifted inventor, steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

5 out of 5 stars

I loved this so much. It was so cute and warmed my heart to no end.

I liked this one much more than Anna and the French Kiss, although I did love that one too. I’ve found that the climax of these books is right at the end when the couple gets together, and then the book ends, but I’m just so obsessed with the cute that I’m okay that I don’t get much of the relationship.

This book followed Lola Nolan who is dating this 22-year-old bad boy rocker guy named Max. She’s in love with him, but she’s only 16 when they start dating. Her dads don’t like Max so they always pester him with questions, and at the time Lola hates it, but she comes to realize it’s for the best, when her childhood crush moves back in next door. Cricket Bell. The epitome of the boy next door, but now he’s older, taller, and much more handsome…

This was so cute.

Seriously SO cute.

I loved Lola because she was different. She has two gay fathers which I loved having in a story. It just added a different dynamic to make the book more realistic. She also wore costumes each and every day. She loved dressing up and creating her own outfits, which I thought was so cool. She wore wigs, glasses, dresses, rainboots, sparkles, you name it and Lola has worn it. I loved that this added something interesting to the storyline. Cricket. Let me tell ya. Dream guy right here, and I’m so lucky because he reminded me of my own boyfriend (aww I know).

Cricket Bell is the cutest love interest I have ever read because he’s so honest with everything. He tells Anna that he’s been in love with her since childhood, but doesn’t push her. He lives right next door and they can see into each other’s windows. He climbs over to her room one night while she’s still dating Max. He knows that she’s sad, so he tries to comfort her, and then Anna realizes in that moment that she loves him and has for forever. So she leans in for the kiss, and Cricket tells her that he wants to kiss her more than anything in the whole world, but doesn’t want her to feel guilty with Max. He’s just such a considerate guy.

Anna and St. Clair from Anna and the French Kiss showed up! It was so cute because I knew that these were companion novels, but I didn’t know that they would be in the storyline so much. I can just see Stephanie Perkins smiling and giggling to herself while she came up with this adorable storyline. Ugh so cute. I love St. Clair and Anna together, so seeing that again was just so cute.

The first kiss between Lola and Cricket was perfect. The rest of the kisses were perfect. You could tell they were crazy about each other, and it was precious and so pure. That is what love feels like. That was such an amazing representation of the pure need and want of a couple in a new relationship. It was just so cute and real and I loved it.

The moon cycle thing that Cricket makes for Lola. Oh my gosh I almost died when I read that because it was just so sweet. So thoughtful, and you can tell in that moment she’s just so far head-over-heels. I LOVE that Cricket didn’t make a big deal about Lola having slept with Max because that would just be dumb and rude, but I’m also glad that the book left off when they were walking into the dance so then you were left thinking that all they did was kiss and be happy and cute.

I’ve started reading the acknowledgements of books, and I would HIGHLY recommend doing this. The last part of the acknowledgments was to her husband, and she talked about how he flew across the country to take her to prom, and they wore their matching Converse for grand march. I was just overwhelmed with the cute of the book and that just added another layer omg it made me so happy.

Guys, this series is just as good as everyone says it is. This has raised the bar for every contemporary book I read!!

Anna is less than thrilled to be shipped off to boarding school in Paris, leaving a fledgling romance behind – until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all…including a girlfriend. But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with a longed-for French kiss?

4 out of 5 stars

This was just the book I needed and I’m so happy to finally have read it. I totally get why everyone loves this series because this was just so cute.

The only reason I gave this a 4/5 instead of 5/5 is because Anna cried. So. Much.

I understand that lots of emotions can be coursing through your body at times, but you do not need to cry at literally everything. The guy you like just told you you’re beautiful. Crying. His girlfriend is mean. Crying. Anything happening. Crying.

Goodnessssss.

Other than that though, I really loved this book. I read this in one day and was hooked the entire time. I did think that St. Clair and Anna got together with too little time to spare because you didn’t really even get to see their relationship, but it was still good.

St. Clair is such a great guy, but if he wanted to break up with his girlfriend Ellie, why didn’t he? He went on and on at the end saying things to the extent that he didn’t like change, and that they had been together for so long, but he wanted to break it off. It kind of made me mad when he said that he’s liked Anna since the first day of school, but didn’t act on it… hmmmm.

I loved the group of friends that Anna found at SOAP, and it was so cool that she got to go to school in Paris. I thought it was funny that she didn’t want to right away. Umm. You’re in Paris. One of the most iconic cities in the world, and you’re angsty? Live it up!

It’s strange to me that her dad picked Paris because she had literally never even spoken French, but had taken a few years of Spanish. Right.

Even though I found some things I didn’t like of this, I loved the majority of this. Anna and St. Clair’s relationship was so cute. I am so excited to read the other two books in this series!